"The justice secretary said there had been cabinet feedback on the plans and suggested on Tuesday he was minded to follow the recommendation in a report by the retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson that either-way offences likely to result in a sentence of three years or less should be dealt with by the magistrates courts or a new judge-only division."
"Where should the threshold be? [Leveson] suggested it should be three years and that's what I'm looking at. That threshold would be likely to mean more serious offences beyond rape, murder and manslaughter would be looked at by juries, but lesser assaults, thefts and handling stolen goods could be dealt with by magistrates or judge-only trials."
"A memo leaked last week had suggested Lammy was looking at going further, suggesting jury trials would be applicable only for public interest offences with possible prison sentences of more than five years, removing the ancient right of thousands of defendants to be heard before a jury. Lammy has described the current court backlog as a courts emergency that will surpass 100,000 outstanding cases, saying it is leaving victims waiting years for justice."
David Lammy is expected to retain jury trials for murder, manslaughter and rape while radically reducing juries for less serious offences. He is inclined to follow Sir Brian Leveson's recommendation that either-way offences likely to draw sentences of three years or less be handled by magistrates or a new judge-only division. A leaked memo had proposed a higher threshold of five years, which would have removed jury trials for thousands more defendants. Lammy described the court backlog as a crisis exceeding 100,000 outstanding cases and argued delays leave victims waiting years. Cabinet feedback narrowed the proposals closer to Leveson's three-year threshold. Lammy will set out his view in parliament.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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